The seven feasts of the Lord

We have now come to the feasts (chap. 23). It is the full [1]
year of the counsels of God towards His people, and the rest which
was the end of those counsels.

There were consequently seven -- a number expressive of
perfection well known in the word: the sabbath, the passover and the
feast of unleavened bread, the firstfruits of harvest, Pentecost,
the feast of trumpets in the seventh month, the day of atonement,
and the feast of tabernacles.

If the sabbath be separated and reckoned by itself, the
passover would be distinguished from the feast of unleavened bread,
which would make the seven. I do not say this to preserve the
number, but because the chapter itself speaks thus: having counted
the sabbath amongst the others, it resumes and calls the others
(without the sabbath) the solemn feasts. For, in one sense, it was
indeed a feast; in another, it was the rest, when the whole was
ended [2] . In general these feasts present us, then, with all the
bases on which God has entered into relationship with His people;
the principles on which He has gathered them around Him, in His ways
with this people, upon the earth. Their bearing was wider than that,
in other respects; but it is in this point of view that these
circumstances, that is, these facts, are here considered. They are
seen in their accomplishment upon the earth.

The moral distinction of the feasts

There is another way of dividing them, by taking the words,
"And Jehovah spake unto Moses" [3] as the title of each part: the
sabbath, the passover, and the unleavened bread (vers. 1-8); the
firstfruits and the Pentecost (vers. 9-22); the feast of trumpets
(vers. 23-25); the day of atonement (vers. 26-32); the feast of
tabernacles (ver. 33 to the end). This latter division gives us the
moral distinction of the feasts; that is, the ways of God
therein. Let us examine them a little more in detail.

The Sabbath, the passover and the feast of unleavened bread,
as a whole

The very first thing presented is the sabbath, as being the
end and the result of all the ways of God. The promise is left us of
entering into God's rest. It is a feast to Jehovah; but the feasts,
which present rather the ways of God to lead us there, begin again
at the fourth verse, as we have already said (compare vers. 37,
38). This distinction being noticed, we can take the sabbath,* the
passover, and the feast of unleavened bread as making a whole (vers.
1-8). Of the two latter, the unleavened bread was the feast,
properly speaking; the passover was the sacrifice on which the feast
was grounded. As the apostle says, "Christ our passover is
sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with
leaven," etc.

[1] I add, to give the intelligence of this expression, that
the word translated "feast" signifies an appointed or definite time,
and which returned consequently at the revolution of the year. The
series of the feasts embraced the whole year, inasmuch as they
returned regularly each consecutive year. This shews too the
difference of the sabbath, God's rest -- only here of creation; and,
I may add, of the new moon -- figure I doubt not of Israel's
restoration. The great new moon was in the seventh month.

[2] The idea of these feasts is God gathering the people
around Himself as a holy convocation. The solemn feasts were, then,
the gathering of God's people around Him, and in detail the ways of
God in gathering them thus. Hence the distinction made in this
chapter. It is evident that the sabbath, the rest of God, will be
the great gathering of the people of God around Him, as the centre
of peace and blessing. So that the sabbath is truly a solemn feast,
a holy convocation; but? also, it is evidently apart and distinct
from the means and the operations which gathered the people. Hence
we find it mentioned at the beginning, and reckoned amongst the
solemn feasts; then the Spirit of God begins afresh (ver. 4) and
gives the solemn feasts, as embracing all the ways of God in the
gathering of His people, leaving out the sabbath. In reckoning the
feasts, the passover and the feast of unleavened bread may be
considered as one, for both were at the same time, and treated
together; or, looking upon the sabbath as separate, they may be
estimated as two feasts. Both these things are found in the
word.

[3] It is well to observe, in passing, that this formula
gives, in the whole Pentateuch, the true division of the subjects.
Sometimes the directions are addressed to Aaron, which supposes some
internal relations based on the existence of priesthood -- sometimes
to Moses and Aaron; and in that case they are not purely
communications and commandments to establish relations, but also
directions for the exercise of functions thus established.
Consequently we have in Leviticus 10, for the first time I think,
"Jehovah spake unto Aaron"; -- chapter 11 to "Moses and Aaron";
because that, whilst it treats of commandments and ordinances given
for the first time, it is also a question of the discernment
consequent upon relations existing between God and the people, and
in which the exercise of the priesthood came in. These general
principles will assist in apprehending the nature of the
communications made by God to His people (see chap. 13). Chapter 14,
as far as verse 32, consists of ordinances to settle simply what
priesthood must do; verse 33, priestly discernment is again in
exercise.

[4] I shall here add a few words on the subject of the
sabbath, submitting them to the spiritual thoughts of my
brethren. It is well to be subject to the word. First, the
participation in God's rest is what distinguishes His people --
their distinctive privilege. The heart of the believer holds that
fast, whatever may be the sign that God has given of it
(Heb. 4). God had established it at the beginning; but there is no
appearance that man ever enjoyed in fact any share in it. He did not
work in the creation, nor was he set to labour or toil in the garden
of Eden; he was to dress and keep it, indeed, but he had nothing to
do but continually to enjoy However the day was hallowed from the
beginning. Afterwards the sabbath was given as a memorial of the
deliverance out of Egypt (Deut. 5: 15), and the prophets specially
insist on that point -- that the sabbath was given as a sign of
God's covenant (Ezek. 20; Ex. 31: 13). It was plain that it was but
the earnest of the word, "My presence shall go, and I will give thee
rest" (Ex. 31: 13; 33: 14; Lev. 19: 30). It is a sign that the
people are sanctified to God (Ezek. 20: 12, 13-16, 20; Neh. 9: 14:
compare Isa. 56: 2-6; 58: 13; Jer. 17: 22; Lam. 1: 7; 2: 6;
Ezek. 22: 8; 23: 38; 44: 24). Besides these passages, we see that,
whenever God gives any new principle or form of relation with
Himself, the sabbath is added: thus in grace to Israel (Ex. 16: 23);
as law (Ex. 20: 10). See also, besides the verse we are occupied
with, Exodus 31: 13, 14; 34: 21; when they are restored afresh by
the patience of God through mediation (chap. 35: 2), and in the new
covenant of Deuteronomy already quoted in the passage.

These remarks shew us what was the radical and essential
importance of the sabbath, as the thought of God and the sign of the
relation between His people and Himself, though, being only a sign,
a solemnity, and not in itself a moral commandment; for the thing
signified the association with God in His rest, and is of the
highest order of truth in connecting the heart with God. But if that
be of the utmost importance, it is of an equal and even higher
importance to remember that the covenant between God and the Jewish
people is entirely set aside for us, and that the sign of this
covenant does not belong to us, although God's rest be yet quite as
precious to us, and even more so; that our rest is not in this
creation -- a rest of which the seventh day was the sign; and
moreover (which is more important still) that the Lord Jesus is Lord
of the sabbath, a remark of all importance as to His Person, and
null if He was to do nothing with regard to the sabbath; and that,
as a fact, He has omitted all mention of it in the sermon on the
mount, where He has given such a precious summary of the fundamental
principles suited to the kingdom, with the addition of the name of
the Father and the fact of a suffering Messiah, and the revelation
of the heavenly reward, making a whole of the principles of His
kingdom, and that He uniformly thwarted the thoughts of the Jews on
this point; a circumstance which the evangelists (that is, the Holy
Ghost) have been careful to record. The sabbath itself Jesus passed
in a state of death, a terrible sign of the position of the Jews as
to their covenant -- for us, of the birth of much better things.

It has been tried, with much trouble, to prove that the
seventh day was in fact the first. A single remark demolishes the
whole edifice thus reared; it is, that the word of God calls this
last the first in contrast with the seventh. What is, then, the
first day? It is for us the day of all days -- the day of the
resurrection of Jesus, by which we are begotten again unto a lively
hope, which is the source of all our joy, our salvation, and that
which characterises our life. Thus we shall find the rest of God in
the resurrection. Morally, in this world, we begin our spiritual
life by the rest, instead of finding it at the end of our
labours. Our rest is in the new creation; we are the beginning,
after Christ, who is the Head of it, of that new dispensation.

It is clear, then, that the rest of God cannot, in our case,
be connected with the sign of the rest of creation here below. Have
we any authority in the New Testament for distinguishing the first
day of the week from the others? For my part, I do not doubt it. It
is certain we have not commandments like those of the old law; they
would be quite contrary to the spirit of the gospel of grace. But
the Spirit of God has marked out, in divers manners, the first day
of the week, though that day is not made binding upon us in a way
contrary to the nature of the economy. The Lord, being raised on
that day according to His promise, appears in the midst of His
disciples gathered according to His word: the week following He does
the same. In the Acts the first day of the week is marked as the day
on which they gathered together to break bread.

In 1 Corinthians 16 Christians are exhorted
to lay by of what they had earned, each first day of the week. In
Revelation it is positively called the Lord's day, that is,
designated in a direct manner by a distinctive name by the Holy
Spirit. I am well aware that it has been sought to persuade us that
John speaks of being in spirit in the millennium. But there are two
fatal objections to that interpretation. First, the Greek says quite
another thing, and uses the same word that is used for the Lord's
supper, lordly or dominical -- the dominical supper, the dominical
day. Who can doubt as to the meaning of such an expression, or,
consequently, can fail to admit that the first day of the week was
distinguished from others (as the Lord's supper was distinguished
from other suppers), not as an imposed sabbath, but as a privileged
day? But the reasoning to prove it refers to the millennium is
founded on a totally false idea, in that only a minimum portion of
the Revelation speaks of the millennium. The book is about the
things which precede it, and in the place where the expression is
found, there is decidedly no mention whatever of it, but of the
existing churches, whatever withal might be their prophetic
character; so that, if we hold to the word of God, we are forced to
say that the first day of the week is distinguished in the word of
God as being the Lord's day. We are also bound to say, if we desire
to maintain the authority of the Son of man, that He is superior to
the sabbath -- "Lord of the sabbath"; so that in maintaining for us
the authority of the Jewish sabbath as such, we are in danger of
denying the authority, the dignity, and the rights of the Lord Jesus
Himself, and of re-establishing the old covenant, of which it was
the appointed sign, of seeking rest as the result of labour under
the law. The more the true importance of the sabbath, the seventh
day, is felt, the more we shall feel the importance of the
consideration that it is no longer the seventh, but the first day
which has privileges for us. Let us take care, on the other hand,
because we are no longer under law but under grace, not to weaken
the thought not only of man's rest but of God's -- a governing
thought in the whole of the revelation of His relationships with
man. The final rest for us is rest from spiritual labours in the
midst of evil, not merely from sin; a rest which we, as
fellow-labourers, shall enjoy with Him who has said, "My Father
worketh hitherto, and I work."

What was indeed necessary for the sabbath, for the rest of
God, was the sacrifice of Christ, and purity; and though all these
feasts lead on to the rest of God, yet these two, the passover and
unleavened bread, are the basis of all, and of the rest itself for
us. Christ's sacrifice and the absence of all principle of sin,
form the basis of the part we have in the rest of God. God is
glorified in respect of sin; sin is put away for us, out of His
sight, and out of our hearts. The perfect absence of leaven marked
Christ's path and nature down here, and is accomplished in us, so
far as we realise Christ as our life, and recognise ourselves,
though the flesh be still in us, as dead and risen with Him [1] . It
is thus that we have seen the manna connected with the sabbath in
Exodus 16. To be without leaven was the perfection of the Person of
Christ living upon earth, and becomes in principle the walk upon
earth of him who is partaker of His life. In the true and final
sabbath, of course, all leaven will be absent from us. The sacrifice
of Christ and purity of life render one capable of participating in
God's rest.

The firstfruits -- Christ

After that comes power, the firstfruits; that is, the
resurrection of Christ on the morrow after the sabbath -- the first
day of the week. It was the beginning of the true harvest -- harvest
gathered, by power, outside and beyond the natural life of the
world. According to the Jewish law nothing of the harvest could be
touched before: Christ was the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead. With this first of the firstfruits were offered sacrifices for
a sweet savour, but not for sin. It is clear there was no need for
it. It is Christ who has been offered to God, quite pure, and waved
before God -- placed fully before His eyes for us, as raised from
the dead, the beginning of a new crop before God -- man in a
condition which not even innocent Adam was in, the Man of God's
counsels, the second Man, the last Adam: not, all hanging on
obedience which might fail, and did, but after God had been
perfectly glorified in the place of sin, past death, past sin (for
He died unto sin?, past Satan's power, past judgment, and
consequently by thus wholly out of the scene where responsible man
had stood, on a totally new footing with God after His finished
work, and God perfectly glorified; such a work too as gave Him title
to say, therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life
that I might take it again, and made it God's righteousness to set
Him at His right hand in glory.

Pentecost -- firstfruits of those who are Christ's

Connected with that comes the meat-offering at the end of the
seven weeks. It is no longer Christ here, but those who are His, the
firstfruits of His creatures; they are considered as being upon
earth, and leaven is found in them. Therefore, though offered to
God, they were not burned as a sweet savour (Lev. 2: 12); but with
the loaves was offered a sin-offering, which answered by its
efficacy to the leaven found in them. They are the saints of which
Pentecost commenced the ingathering.

The provision of grace -- the Church period

This feast was followed by a long space of time, in which
there was nothing new in the ways of God. Only they were commanded,
when they reaped the harvest, not to make clean riddance of the
comers of the field. A part of the good grain was to be left in the
field, after the harvest was gathered into the garner, but not to be
lost; it was for those who were not enjoying the riches of God's
people, but who would participate exceptionally by grace in the
provision which God had made for them -- in the abundance which God
had granted them. This will take place at the end of this age.

The feast of trumpets

Pentecostal work being ended, another series of events begins
(ver. 23) with the words referred to, "And Jehovah spake unto
Moses." They blow up the trumpet in the new moon (compare Ps. 81;
Num. 10: 3, 10). It was the renewal of the blessing and the
splendour of the people -- Israel gathered as an assembly before
Jehovah. It is not yet the restoration of joy and gladness, but at
least the renewal of the light and reflected glory which had
disappeared takes place, and enlightens their expectant eyes; and
they gather the assembly to re-establish the glory.

But Israel must at least feel their sin; and in the solemn
feast which follows, the affliction of the people is connected with
the sacrifice of the day of atonement: Israel shall look on Him whom
they have pierced, and mourn. The nation (at least the spared
remnant who become the nation) will participate in the efficacy of
the sacrifice of Christ, and that in their state here below,
repenting, and recognised of God, so that the times of refreshing
will be come. This is then the repentance of the people, but in
connection with the atoning sacrifice. The efficacy is in the
sacrifice; their participation in it is connected with the
affliction of their souls (compare Zech. 12). But Israel did
nothing -- it was a sabbath -- they were assembled in humiliation in
the presence of God. They accept the pierced One under the sense of
the sin of which they have been guilty in rejecting Him.

The feast of tabernacles

Then follows the feast of tabernacles. They offered, during
seven days, offerings made by fire unto Jehovah; and on the eighth
day there was again a holy convocation -- an extraordinary day of a
new week which went beyond the full time -- including, I doubt not,
the resurrection; that is, the participation of those who are raised
in that joy.

It was a solemn assembly -- that eighth day, the great day of
the feast, on which the Lord (having declared of the then time that
His hour was not yet come to shew Himself to the world -- His
brethren [the Jews] not believing in Him either) announced that for
him who believed in Him there would be, in the meanwhile, rivers of
living water which would flow from his belly; that is, the Holy
Spirit, who would be a living power working in, and flowing forth
from the heart, and in the expression of its intimate
affections. Israel had indeed drunk of the living water out of the
rock in the wilderness, the sojourn in which, now past when the
feast of tabernacles is celebrated, was celebrated with joy in the
memorial of that which was over, to enhance the joy of the rest into
which they were ushered. But believers now meanwhile were not only
to drink, for blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
believed; the river itself would flow from the heart; that is, the
Holy Spirit in power, which they would have received through Christ
before He should be manifested to the world, or they have their
place in the heavenly Canaan.

The joy of the Millennium

Thus, the feast of tabernacles is the joy of the millennium,
when Israel have come out of the wilderness where their sins have
placed them; but to which will be added this first day of another
week -- the resurrection joy of those who are raised with the Lord
Jesus, to which the presence of the Holy Ghost answers
meanwhile.

The day of joy yet awaiting the Centre and Spring of it
all

Consequently, we find that the feast of tabernacles took place
after the increase of the earth had been gathered in, and, as we
learn elsewhere, not only after the harvest but after the vintage
also; that is, after separation by judgment, and the final execution
of judgment on the earth, when heavenly and earthly saints should be
all gathered in. Israel was to rejoice seven days before
Jehovah.

The passover has had its antitype, Pentecost its also; but
this day of joy is yet awaiting Him who is to be the centre and
spring of it all, the Lord Jesus, who will rejoice in the great
congregation, and whose praise will begin with Jehovah in the great
assembly (Ps. 22). He had already done it in the midst of the
assembly of His brethren; but now the whole race of Jacob is called
to glorify Him, and all the ends of the world shall remember
themselves.

The feast of tabernacles kept only in the land

The expression, solemn assembly, is not found applied
to any of the feasts but this, except to the seventh day of the
passover (Deut. 16), as it seems to me somewhat in the same
sense. The feast of tabernacles could not be kept in the wilderness.
In order to observe it, the people were to be in possession of the
land, as is plain. It is also to be observed, that it never was kept
according to the prescriptions of the law from Joshua till Nehemiah
(Neh. 8: 17). Israel had forgotten that they had been strangers in
the wilderness. Joy, without the remembrance of this, tends to ruin;
the very enjoyment of the blessing leads to it.

It will be remarked that, properly speaking, all the feasts
are types of what is done on earth and in connection with Israel,
unless we except the eighth day of tabernacles. The church period,
as such, is the lapse of time from Pentecost to the seventh
month. We may, and of course do, get the benefit of, at any rate,
the two first; but historically the type refers to Israel.

[1] There are three points which we may notice here as to
this. First in Colossians 3 God counts us dead with Christ (in
Col. also risen); in Romans 6 we reckon ourselves dead to sin, and
alive not in Adam, but through Him; in 2 Corinthians 4 it is
practically carried out; always bearing about in the body the dying
of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our
flesh. Ephesians is on different ground: we are not such as have
died to sin, but were dead in sins, and then a wholly new
creation. Sovereign grace had put us into Christ with the same power
that raised Christ from the grave to the throne of God.